All web designers need motivation for designing and there are plenty of resources which are available online which motivate as well as educate web site designers.
Since web design is dependant on the latest technology, it is imperative for web designers to read about what is new in their field and educate themselves with the latest user interface development software. If you are a web site designer, the below mentioned list will be helpful in providing information about some of the sites that leading designers use to update them selves or search for resources for their design:
Images:
One of the most important things which you need in any web site design is images. Sometimes a customer may provide relevant images for the web site but most of the times you have to depend on the online resources for copyright free images which can be used for the web site.
Some of the most popular sites in this category are www.gettyimages.com , www.photos.com and www.corbis.com . These sites provide images but they are usually on a paid basis. Some of them may charge you per image, and some might provide a subscription model where you pay for a year and have unlimited access to the entire image databank. Pricing of images are based on the objective of the image and the resolution in which you want to buy it.
Design ideas:
Even though most customized web sites are designed just for that one customer, designers may look at template databases to get ideas. One of the most popular sites for this is www.templatemonster.com . However, some designers may condone looking at such sites as it might influence their creativity and some of them might consider it to be akin to flouting copyright issues. Design ideas may also be fetched from sites such as www.dynamicdrive.com which good DHTML tips and codes are published.
Flash design ideas and tutorials:
Most web sites have started implementing flash in some form or the other. As a web designer there are some excellent sites which offer flash tutorials, navigation tips, and even feature some of the possibilities of flash in a educational fashion. One of the well known sites amongst web site designers is www.macromedia.com itself. Apart from that, you can see www.flashkit.com and www.cwd.dk to get some more flash related tutorials.
Apart from the graphic inputs, there are many online resources available which can provide you free goodies such as scripts for the web site. Since the rankings of such web sites keep changing on a regular basis, you are likely to get the most updated web site when you search for ‘free scripts’ on Google. Some of the sites which I came up with are www.free-scripts.net , www.javascriptkit.com ( sounded very promising) and www.java-scripts.net .
Apart from the resources web site, there are some web sites such as www.w3.org which provide guidelines for the usage of HTML and XHTML. One site which is very popular under this head is http://validator.w3.org as it resulted in listing many errors on web sites which might not be recognizable by even some of the best web designers.
It is difficult to list all the useful links for web designers. Doing that might take a couple of months and you might need a search engine to search through those links.
The internet is obviously a good hunting ground for all the tools and tips which you need when designing a web site. There are some excellent communities which share experiences and help the members troubleshoot issues faced by them. So go ahead, the internet is the perfect place for all web design help that you need!
http://www.webdesignoffice.us/Online_resources_web_site_designers.html
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Designing the Color Scheme of Your Website
While designing a web site one of the primary considerations is the color scheme. It is very important to select a judicious color scheme. Sometimes the user wants the company colors employed in the scheme. Go about selecting the colors in a wise manner.
A wrong choice can ruin an otherwise well made site.
The color palette is broadly divided in three categories: -Warm colors, cool colors and neutral colors.
Warm Colors
Warm colors have an exciting and invigorating effect on the user. Red, pink, yellow, orange and gold are the warm colors. On their own they may become over stimulating and oppressive so use it in contrast with a muter shade. The various meanings associated with these colors are
• Red shows love, energy, passion, heat, anger, danger, warning
• Pink is happy, feminine and sweet. Its negative side shows immaturity and weakness.
• Yellow depicts brightness, energy happiness. It also represents cowardice and irresponsibility.
• Orange shows courage, confidence, warmth, sluggishness and ignorance
• Gold shows wealth, prosperity and greed.
Cool colors
They have a calm, soothing effect. Blue, purple, silver and green are the cool colors. But used excessively on their own they may make the site impersonal and dull. Synchronizing a cool color with a warmer hue gives great results. Representation of each color:
• Blue shows tranquility, trust and intelligence. Their negative connotations are coldness and fear. Blue also is representative of masculinity
• Green depicts money, fertility growth healing. On the flip side it denotes envy, greed and jealousy.
• Purple shows luxury, royalty, ambition, mystery
• Silver represents glamour, high tech, sleek.
Neutral colors
Neutral colors brown black tan white, gray. On their own they are nondescript and dull. They are great for balancing the effect of other colors. Site design with neutral color pepped up with other brighter colors is ideal.
The various types of color schemes used are
• Monochromatic
• Same group.
• Contrast
Monochromatic color scheme uses variation of only one color for the entire design
This classy scheme works very well for business web sites. Although too much dependence on a single color may turn boring and a judicious use of a neutral color may elevate the problem.
Same Group color scheme uses two similar looking colors e.g. Blue and purple or red and orange. This may turn out to be a very elegant design. Ensure that too much usage of similar looking palette does not make your site monotonous.
Contrast color scheme uses two absolutely opposite colors e.g. black and white, red and green, blue and orange. Sometimes the contrast becomes too strong and the resultant site is glaring to the eyes. To get over this pick a softer hue of one color to offset the other. For instance royal blue and orange will be horrendous but a pale sky blue used with a peachy orange would look fresh.
If the site has a very strident color scheme, it distracts from the content. The colors should enhance the site and not divert attention from it.
While designing your site’s color scheme choose from the 216-color palette the web browsers can see. Using the colors outside this palette will result in dithering, giving a speckled look to the object. So when using solid color as a design element choose browser safe colors only.
Yellow is a color that the eye catches first. Use it for banners and teasers. Once you have dragged the user’s attention to your website, there is no point in giving eye fatigue. Avoid excessive use of red and yellow.
Some colors are difficult to read. like orange on blue background. If your site colors is giving the users a headache, the popularity will drop naturally.
On the other hand the site becomes drab and monotonous if it has too few colors or predominantly white. Agreed white is a good background for large chunks of text, but jazz it up with textures and contrasting buttons.
Do not make the mistake of comparing the colors of your printed matter with those on your site. Some times what may be a really exquisite color scheme on a printed card may not turn out so well on the screen. Each color is represented differently on say a brochure and the monitor.
Keep your color scheme consistent throughout. It is ok to choose purple as hyperlink color but ensure that it is the same all over. Avoid variations in text color or a drastic change in color scheme between pages.
The contrast between the text color and the background should be enough to be differentiated without being glaring.
Take the age of the targeted viewers into consideration. Kids portals should have vivid and contrasting palette where as a site for more mature section would be toned down and elegant.
A website having an exquisitely planned color scheme is a delight to view. Take care of these pointers and turn your website into elegance personified.
http://www.webdesignplaza.com/web-design-articles-aviva.html
A wrong choice can ruin an otherwise well made site.
The color palette is broadly divided in three categories: -Warm colors, cool colors and neutral colors.
Warm Colors
Warm colors have an exciting and invigorating effect on the user. Red, pink, yellow, orange and gold are the warm colors. On their own they may become over stimulating and oppressive so use it in contrast with a muter shade. The various meanings associated with these colors are
• Red shows love, energy, passion, heat, anger, danger, warning
• Pink is happy, feminine and sweet. Its negative side shows immaturity and weakness.
• Yellow depicts brightness, energy happiness. It also represents cowardice and irresponsibility.
• Orange shows courage, confidence, warmth, sluggishness and ignorance
• Gold shows wealth, prosperity and greed.
Cool colors
They have a calm, soothing effect. Blue, purple, silver and green are the cool colors. But used excessively on their own they may make the site impersonal and dull. Synchronizing a cool color with a warmer hue gives great results. Representation of each color:
• Blue shows tranquility, trust and intelligence. Their negative connotations are coldness and fear. Blue also is representative of masculinity
• Green depicts money, fertility growth healing. On the flip side it denotes envy, greed and jealousy.
• Purple shows luxury, royalty, ambition, mystery
• Silver represents glamour, high tech, sleek.
Neutral colors
Neutral colors brown black tan white, gray. On their own they are nondescript and dull. They are great for balancing the effect of other colors. Site design with neutral color pepped up with other brighter colors is ideal.
The various types of color schemes used are
• Monochromatic
• Same group.
• Contrast
Monochromatic color scheme uses variation of only one color for the entire design
This classy scheme works very well for business web sites. Although too much dependence on a single color may turn boring and a judicious use of a neutral color may elevate the problem.
Same Group color scheme uses two similar looking colors e.g. Blue and purple or red and orange. This may turn out to be a very elegant design. Ensure that too much usage of similar looking palette does not make your site monotonous.
Contrast color scheme uses two absolutely opposite colors e.g. black and white, red and green, blue and orange. Sometimes the contrast becomes too strong and the resultant site is glaring to the eyes. To get over this pick a softer hue of one color to offset the other. For instance royal blue and orange will be horrendous but a pale sky blue used with a peachy orange would look fresh.
If the site has a very strident color scheme, it distracts from the content. The colors should enhance the site and not divert attention from it.
While designing your site’s color scheme choose from the 216-color palette the web browsers can see. Using the colors outside this palette will result in dithering, giving a speckled look to the object. So when using solid color as a design element choose browser safe colors only.
Yellow is a color that the eye catches first. Use it for banners and teasers. Once you have dragged the user’s attention to your website, there is no point in giving eye fatigue. Avoid excessive use of red and yellow.
Some colors are difficult to read. like orange on blue background. If your site colors is giving the users a headache, the popularity will drop naturally.
On the other hand the site becomes drab and monotonous if it has too few colors or predominantly white. Agreed white is a good background for large chunks of text, but jazz it up with textures and contrasting buttons.
Do not make the mistake of comparing the colors of your printed matter with those on your site. Some times what may be a really exquisite color scheme on a printed card may not turn out so well on the screen. Each color is represented differently on say a brochure and the monitor.
Keep your color scheme consistent throughout. It is ok to choose purple as hyperlink color but ensure that it is the same all over. Avoid variations in text color or a drastic change in color scheme between pages.
The contrast between the text color and the background should be enough to be differentiated without being glaring.
Take the age of the targeted viewers into consideration. Kids portals should have vivid and contrasting palette where as a site for more mature section would be toned down and elegant.
A website having an exquisitely planned color scheme is a delight to view. Take care of these pointers and turn your website into elegance personified.
http://www.webdesignplaza.com/web-design-articles-aviva.html
Online Marketing: Who are the real specialists
Every respectable company has a marketing department, responsible for advertising products or services a company proposes. More or less developed, they function to increase the sales level at the market. Those working at such difficult task should be efficient and experienced salesmen, because today’s market is very tight and leaders in every industry are pretty much established. To compete against rivals, managers are to seek alternative and effective ways to reach their aim and bring popularity to the product or service.
This is where companies providing SEO copywrighting services appear on stage. It is worth trying to write content on your own, however, one must remember that if the SEO process has been wrongfully completed, it may harm business and optimization process as well. In order to avoid it, one might hire experienced and high-skilled professionals to complete this task. However, what skills, experience and qualities are required to complete this vital, yet quite difficult task. Apart from the fact that the specialist must know optimization process, he should also have understanding of how the market in your business operates. It might be advisable for him to know not only current marketing trends and current internet issues but current online controversies as well, so he will be able to take some effective measures to augment and lessen their impact.
In spite of the fact that he will be writing on various marketing topics, he nevertheless must be able to handle various multiple tasks in modern era of communications between various countries and nations, such as accepting some orders and requests from various international businesses and organizations and companies. It is useful for him to have not only online copywriting skills but offline copywriting experience as it might broaden his vision and allow him to see some new features vital for the successful development of your business and finally some indispensable elements for the successful marketing of goods and services that you provide, as it will enhance the efficiency of your business. You might read about some indispensable elements of effective advertising or ask SEO copywriters of Killer-Content.com to assist you and take your business to another level.
http://www.webdesignplaza.com/web-design-articles-killer-content.html
This is where companies providing SEO copywrighting services appear on stage. It is worth trying to write content on your own, however, one must remember that if the SEO process has been wrongfully completed, it may harm business and optimization process as well. In order to avoid it, one might hire experienced and high-skilled professionals to complete this task. However, what skills, experience and qualities are required to complete this vital, yet quite difficult task. Apart from the fact that the specialist must know optimization process, he should also have understanding of how the market in your business operates. It might be advisable for him to know not only current marketing trends and current internet issues but current online controversies as well, so he will be able to take some effective measures to augment and lessen their impact.
In spite of the fact that he will be writing on various marketing topics, he nevertheless must be able to handle various multiple tasks in modern era of communications between various countries and nations, such as accepting some orders and requests from various international businesses and organizations and companies. It is useful for him to have not only online copywriting skills but offline copywriting experience as it might broaden his vision and allow him to see some new features vital for the successful development of your business and finally some indispensable elements for the successful marketing of goods and services that you provide, as it will enhance the efficiency of your business. You might read about some indispensable elements of effective advertising or ask SEO copywriters of Killer-Content.com to assist you and take your business to another level.
http://www.webdesignplaza.com/web-design-articles-killer-content.html
Finding A Good Web Designer
If you just started an online business, you probably have no idea how to go about hiring a web designer. Who should you call? Should you look someone up in the yellow pages? Should you hire someone who works for a company that employs many different web designers, or should you hire a sole proprietor? Or, should you hire a freelancer who does web design part time? How much does it cost?
If you need someone to develop a very simple, static website that is merely a personal homepage or just an informational site about your business, then you pretty much have carte blanche. The only issue in this case would be cost. A freelancer will charge a lot less than a professional, but a freelancer might not do a thoroughly competent job. There are numerous website directories that contain a database of freelance web designers who are seeking work.
If you hire one of these individuals, make sure you request to see samples of web designs they have already done, just to make sure they have not done shoddy work in the past. I find it best to hire a professional in this instance, because even though a professional will charge more per hour, they can usually do much better work and get it done faster. So, in the end, a freelancer could actually charge more and you might end up getting a design of inferior quality.
Let us take a moment to delineate what the differences are between a freelancer, a sole proprietor, someone who owns a small, reputable web design business with a few employees, and a designer who is part of a huge company that employs up to one hundred web designers (there are quite a few companies out there that employ hundreds of web designers under a single company umbrella and also provide domain name registration and web hosting services all in one package).
First of all, a freelancer is usually someone for who web design is merely a hobby. This sort of a person has probably taken a few courses in simple web design at a local institute or college, or might be self-taught, and dabbles in web design as a part-time job or a way to earn extra cash. Some of these freelancers might be quite talented, but their designs are ordinarily not as crisp as what a professional can produce.
To reiterate, a freelancer is someone who only moonlights as a web designer. So, they are typically busy with their other career, and will take a longer time with your project because of time constraints. In the end, the freelancer probably will not give you the design you really want, and will refuse to refund your money.
A web designer who is part of a larger company that employs one hundred or more designers is just as bad as a freelancer. These sorts of web designers do not have much design skill, and are often given many different jobs to do at once. As a result, they will throw your design together haphazardly. You will be very disappointed with the work they produce.
The best web designers to hire are professionals who do web design as a career, and do focused projects. You should hire either a sole proprietor who has a large portfolio of work to show you, or a small firm of web designers who work together and have extensive web design experience. Professionals charge more than anyone else, but because they have so much experience and such a wide variety of designs for you to choose from, they will do a fantastic job in only a fraction of the time.
The only time you should use a freelancer or other inexperienced designer is if you can meet with that individual in person, explain exactly what you want, and if the project itself is very simple and the design work necessary for the job is not too extravagant. Do not make the mistake of hiring a freelancer over the internet that lives in a different state and only accepts payments via PayPal or some other sort of electronic payment processing service. Make sure your freelancer is someone who resides close by so that you can monitor their progress and visit them if you do not like the initial design they produce.
For almost all web design projects, it is best to hire a professional. Even though it costs more, it is generally only a one-time cost. A website is typically only designed once with major revisions only done once every few years; you may make changes here or there in the short run, but a web site usually stays the same for up to a few years or more. So, you might as well go with the most talented yet reasonably priced designer you can find.
Also, it is very important to hire a designer who has a contract that you can sign that stipulates certain terms and conditions. You should be able to pay the designer a down payment of 25% - 50% of the total quoted price for the job, with the balance due upon completion. This is critically important, because it can be very frustrating to flush money down the toilet on a design you hate without any way to recoup any of your funds afterwards.
Also, the designer should be able to quickly produce some sample layouts after they have been assigned the job so that you can at least pick a particular design that you like the most, and then the designer can begin working on that design rather than using their artistic license to create a design from scratch.
Follow all of these recommendations and be careful when hiring a web designer. Always work with a professional if your project requires a certain level of expertise and skill, and make sure you request a portfolio containing samples of their work so you can see what they have already done. Make sure their prior designs meet your standards.
Article Source: http://add-articles.com
Jim Pretin is the owner of www.forms4free.com, a service that helps programmers make a free HTML form and download formmail
If you need someone to develop a very simple, static website that is merely a personal homepage or just an informational site about your business, then you pretty much have carte blanche. The only issue in this case would be cost. A freelancer will charge a lot less than a professional, but a freelancer might not do a thoroughly competent job. There are numerous website directories that contain a database of freelance web designers who are seeking work.
If you hire one of these individuals, make sure you request to see samples of web designs they have already done, just to make sure they have not done shoddy work in the past. I find it best to hire a professional in this instance, because even though a professional will charge more per hour, they can usually do much better work and get it done faster. So, in the end, a freelancer could actually charge more and you might end up getting a design of inferior quality.
Let us take a moment to delineate what the differences are between a freelancer, a sole proprietor, someone who owns a small, reputable web design business with a few employees, and a designer who is part of a huge company that employs up to one hundred web designers (there are quite a few companies out there that employ hundreds of web designers under a single company umbrella and also provide domain name registration and web hosting services all in one package).
First of all, a freelancer is usually someone for who web design is merely a hobby. This sort of a person has probably taken a few courses in simple web design at a local institute or college, or might be self-taught, and dabbles in web design as a part-time job or a way to earn extra cash. Some of these freelancers might be quite talented, but their designs are ordinarily not as crisp as what a professional can produce.
To reiterate, a freelancer is someone who only moonlights as a web designer. So, they are typically busy with their other career, and will take a longer time with your project because of time constraints. In the end, the freelancer probably will not give you the design you really want, and will refuse to refund your money.
A web designer who is part of a larger company that employs one hundred or more designers is just as bad as a freelancer. These sorts of web designers do not have much design skill, and are often given many different jobs to do at once. As a result, they will throw your design together haphazardly. You will be very disappointed with the work they produce.
The best web designers to hire are professionals who do web design as a career, and do focused projects. You should hire either a sole proprietor who has a large portfolio of work to show you, or a small firm of web designers who work together and have extensive web design experience. Professionals charge more than anyone else, but because they have so much experience and such a wide variety of designs for you to choose from, they will do a fantastic job in only a fraction of the time.
The only time you should use a freelancer or other inexperienced designer is if you can meet with that individual in person, explain exactly what you want, and if the project itself is very simple and the design work necessary for the job is not too extravagant. Do not make the mistake of hiring a freelancer over the internet that lives in a different state and only accepts payments via PayPal or some other sort of electronic payment processing service. Make sure your freelancer is someone who resides close by so that you can monitor their progress and visit them if you do not like the initial design they produce.
For almost all web design projects, it is best to hire a professional. Even though it costs more, it is generally only a one-time cost. A website is typically only designed once with major revisions only done once every few years; you may make changes here or there in the short run, but a web site usually stays the same for up to a few years or more. So, you might as well go with the most talented yet reasonably priced designer you can find.
Also, it is very important to hire a designer who has a contract that you can sign that stipulates certain terms and conditions. You should be able to pay the designer a down payment of 25% - 50% of the total quoted price for the job, with the balance due upon completion. This is critically important, because it can be very frustrating to flush money down the toilet on a design you hate without any way to recoup any of your funds afterwards.
Also, the designer should be able to quickly produce some sample layouts after they have been assigned the job so that you can at least pick a particular design that you like the most, and then the designer can begin working on that design rather than using their artistic license to create a design from scratch.
Follow all of these recommendations and be careful when hiring a web designer. Always work with a professional if your project requires a certain level of expertise and skill, and make sure you request a portfolio containing samples of their work so you can see what they have already done. Make sure their prior designs meet your standards.
Article Source: http://add-articles.com
Jim Pretin is the owner of www.forms4free.com, a service that helps programmers make a free HTML form and download formmail
Why Use XHTML on Your Web Site
As website owners, we all want the same thing. We all want a great design. We all want to make money. We all want our site to reach as many people as possible. But how often have you heard "My site looks great at home but I looked at it on this different computer and it looked terrible!"?
Chances are you've heard this before, or maybe you've even said it yourself. Thankfully, good web developers know how to avoid this, and still deliver everything you should expect from a good website.
Many web design companies only understand certain portions of creating a great web presence. Some companies focus on web development, but have limited design and marketing skills. Others are so focused on bleeding edge technology and design that they forget that some people view websites on PDAs or alternative browsers that can't support such technical wizardry. Few firms can find that sweet spot in the middle where your website looks great and functions well in all instances. Enter XHTML and cross browser compatibility.
What is XHTML?
XHTML is the W3C standard for developing cross browser compatible websites. It fuses all of the display elements of HTML with some of the functionality of XML. By forcing a web designer to program more carefully and adhere to strict code standards, XHTML successfully allows a vastly larger percentage of browsers or code parsers to properly parse your documents. In less geeky terms, it means more people can see your site the way you meant for them to see it, and less people see your site with elements strewn all over their page.
For your site to reach the widest potential audience, it is important that it is developed in the most cross browser compatible method possible. XHTML is that method. The rise of handheld internet ready devices is forcing lazy web designers to program their sites more efficiently, since most internet ready cell phones and PDAs require XHTML to be able to view websites properly. People who use mac computers often see a bunch of gibberish on their screen when browsing the web because some of the tools web design "professionals" use create bloated code that does not render properly. Lazy programmers often only use WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editors to create their web pages and don't even bother to open up the code window.
When somebody comes to your site and sees a total mess of graphics and tables all over the place, it is your brand and your site that suffers. No company looks good with a site that looks bad. Let's do a short exercise to prove this point.
Right now think of me as a user who is ready to buy a widget. You sell widgets. I just landed on your home page. Your site looks awesome on my computer at home running Internet Explorer. However, today I am browsing around on my neat new cell phone. Chances are if you're site is not XHTML compliant; it looks terrible to me right now. I don't want to see this mess on my new toy, so to clean my screen I have to just click right past you and into your competitor's home page. Unfortunately for you, their site is programmed in XHTML and looks perfect.
Friday, February 23, 2007
A practical use of Open Source Code Softwares
As we started the project of our web site, we knew that the proprietary software costs would be too high for our financial resources. Our only option then was to make use of Open Source Code softwares.
However, within the Open Source Code there are lots of softwares to choose from, and it´s up to the system analyst/programmer to pick the ones that best suit the project goals.
In our case, we picked Linux as our operating system. However we faced a big question: Which Linux distribution ? There are dozens of linux distributions, each one with specific advantages, sometimes with or without paid services.
We chose linux Slackware because we thought that it would suit better our needs, in terms of stability and reliability. Slackware is a conservative distribution, meaning that it only offers in its distribution package kernel versions and third party libraries, once it´s been proved to be stable and reliable. As a result, Slackware is one the most stable Linux operating system on the market. If the user wishes the most recent Linux kernel and libraries, we recommend to look for a different distribution.
Another reason for us picking Slackware, was because of its text interface, which at the beginning may become a bit difficult, in the long run however it offers a better understanding of the Linux environment. This way most of Slackware configurations are done thru text scripts.
Once it was set the operating system, we picked Apache as our web server. Apache is one of the most popular web server in the internet. For server programming language, we chose PHP. Also, a very popular programming language. Our experience with Apache/PHP proves that this setup is very reliable, working extremely well in our production environment. For workstation programming language, we chose javascript, which besides of having a simple syntax, it offers lots of resources.
Apache web server is really a complete web server. Also, it can become very complex with many configuration setups.
For our database, we picked Postgresql. This database has been made available to the public for more than 15 years, and besides of being well debugged, it offers so many resources that it has become one of the best database options from Open Source Code softwares. Extremely reliable, Postgresql has reported cases where there have been databases in production with over 4 terabytes. Besides all of that, Postresql is not the most popular Open Source Code database. A matter of marketing ? Probably.
As for the programming language PHP, we had to use an object oriented application structure. There are many PHP application structures being offered with Open Source Code license. Object oriented application is very important, because it makes programming very easy and scalable up to the point where the system may grow without many problems. Also, it helps to keep PHP code separated from HTML, with the help of some specific libraries, such as Smarty. We make use of Smarty library and we believe that it is a very important resource, which can even make web pages faster thru the use of its cache functions.
Also a very important set of libraries worth mentioning for PHP systems, is the PEAR libraries. In PEAR web site, among the many libraries being offered, there are the database interface DB and the MAIL_QUEUE, which sends emails thru the use of database.
As we came to the end of our project, we had to use some sort of real time database replication. For that we chose the DRBD and Heartbeat libraries. The use of database replication is very important and should not be postponed. Just after 3 months our system got into production, our server hard disk became bad. Thru the use of DRBD/Heartbeat we were able to put the system back into production within seconds, without loosing any data. DRBD/Heartbeat replication is done thru the use of a lan network between the server and slave nodes.
Our project also makes use of ImageMagick (enlarge and reduce images), Iptables (firewall), Tsearch2(text search in portgresql) and Mon (linux monitoring tasks).
Also a very important library worth mentioning is the pseudo APC compiler for PHP. Speed is always a critical factor for internet sites.
Our web site is already in production and based upon our experience we can say that the Open Source Code softwares we picked, proved to be extremely reliable and stable. Open Source Code softwares can certainly be an excellent option for developing web sites.
Roberto Sedycias
IT Consultant
This article is under GNU FDL license and can be distributed without any previous authorization from the author. However the author´s name and all the URL´s (links) mentioned in the article and biography must be kept.
This article can also be accessed in portuguese language from the News Articles section of page PoloMercantil.
Roberto Sedycias has a bachelor degree in Business Administration and over 20 years experience in systems analysis and computer programming. Currently working as IT consultant/chief software engineer for www.PoloMercantil.com.br.
However, within the Open Source Code there are lots of softwares to choose from, and it´s up to the system analyst/programmer to pick the ones that best suit the project goals.
In our case, we picked Linux as our operating system. However we faced a big question: Which Linux distribution ? There are dozens of linux distributions, each one with specific advantages, sometimes with or without paid services.
We chose linux Slackware because we thought that it would suit better our needs, in terms of stability and reliability. Slackware is a conservative distribution, meaning that it only offers in its distribution package kernel versions and third party libraries, once it´s been proved to be stable and reliable. As a result, Slackware is one the most stable Linux operating system on the market. If the user wishes the most recent Linux kernel and libraries, we recommend to look for a different distribution.
Another reason for us picking Slackware, was because of its text interface, which at the beginning may become a bit difficult, in the long run however it offers a better understanding of the Linux environment. This way most of Slackware configurations are done thru text scripts.
Once it was set the operating system, we picked Apache as our web server. Apache is one of the most popular web server in the internet. For server programming language, we chose PHP. Also, a very popular programming language. Our experience with Apache/PHP proves that this setup is very reliable, working extremely well in our production environment. For workstation programming language, we chose javascript, which besides of having a simple syntax, it offers lots of resources.
Apache web server is really a complete web server. Also, it can become very complex with many configuration setups.
For our database, we picked Postgresql. This database has been made available to the public for more than 15 years, and besides of being well debugged, it offers so many resources that it has become one of the best database options from Open Source Code softwares. Extremely reliable, Postgresql has reported cases where there have been databases in production with over 4 terabytes. Besides all of that, Postresql is not the most popular Open Source Code database. A matter of marketing ? Probably.
As for the programming language PHP, we had to use an object oriented application structure. There are many PHP application structures being offered with Open Source Code license. Object oriented application is very important, because it makes programming very easy and scalable up to the point where the system may grow without many problems. Also, it helps to keep PHP code separated from HTML, with the help of some specific libraries, such as Smarty. We make use of Smarty library and we believe that it is a very important resource, which can even make web pages faster thru the use of its cache functions.
Also a very important set of libraries worth mentioning for PHP systems, is the PEAR libraries. In PEAR web site, among the many libraries being offered, there are the database interface DB and the MAIL_QUEUE, which sends emails thru the use of database.
As we came to the end of our project, we had to use some sort of real time database replication. For that we chose the DRBD and Heartbeat libraries. The use of database replication is very important and should not be postponed. Just after 3 months our system got into production, our server hard disk became bad. Thru the use of DRBD/Heartbeat we were able to put the system back into production within seconds, without loosing any data. DRBD/Heartbeat replication is done thru the use of a lan network between the server and slave nodes.
Our project also makes use of ImageMagick (enlarge and reduce images), Iptables (firewall), Tsearch2(text search in portgresql) and Mon (linux monitoring tasks).
Also a very important library worth mentioning is the pseudo APC compiler for PHP. Speed is always a critical factor for internet sites.
Our web site is already in production and based upon our experience we can say that the Open Source Code softwares we picked, proved to be extremely reliable and stable. Open Source Code softwares can certainly be an excellent option for developing web sites.
Roberto Sedycias
IT Consultant
This article is under GNU FDL license and can be distributed without any previous authorization from the author. However the author´s name and all the URL´s (links) mentioned in the article and biography must be kept.
This article can also be accessed in portuguese language from the News Articles section of page PoloMercantil.
Roberto Sedycias has a bachelor degree in Business Administration and over 20 years experience in systems analysis and computer programming. Currently working as IT consultant/chief software engineer for www.PoloMercantil.com.br.
Choosing the Ideal Web Site Host
Pure and simple. The success of your website depends on how much traffic you can generate to it. Your website search engine rank dictates your success or failure. Get on the first search engine results page for your keywords and your probability of success will be high. If you land anywhere else in the search engine results, you are invisible and will probably fail.
If you are not experienced in search engine optimization and you do not know all the steps that it takes to make your site rank high with the search engines, you need a web site host that will guide you through the steps and provides the necessary assistance to make your site appear on the first page of the search engines.
The ideal web site host should offer the following services:
1. Fast, reliable hosting
2. Reasonable cost for services provided
3. No initial set up fee
4. Domain registration included in hosting charge
5. Unlimited data transfer
6. Email customer support
7. Telephone customer support
8. Point and click page building
9. Unlimited web pages
10. Tools for brainstorming key words for your site theme
11. Tools for evaluating the supply and demand for your keywords
12. Assistance in building your web pages to make them search engine friendly
13. Uploading your own web pages if desired
14. Automatic submission of each new page or each updated page to the search engines
15. Page templates for your site
16. Customized 404 error pages
17. Direction on creating Google and Yahoo site maps.
18. Inclusion of a blog site
19. Unlimited email accounts
20. Email forwarding
21. Email domain forwarding
22. Support forum of other users
23. Point and click custom input form creation tool
24. Unlimited autoresponders
25. Ability to upload XML code for RSS pages
26. Link exchange and link builder
27. eZine publishing tool
28. Email marketing list builder/distribution
29. Reports
30. Any other additional services
If you find a web host that provides all these services, you should hire it immediately.
For more information about choosing web site hosts, read the Boomer eZine at http://www.boomer-ezine.com/about_iwh.htm.
To succeed on the Internet, you need all the help you can get. Make certain that your web site host can give you that help and that all the services are included in the base price.
Copyright 2006 John Howe, Inc.
If you are not experienced in search engine optimization and you do not know all the steps that it takes to make your site rank high with the search engines, you need a web site host that will guide you through the steps and provides the necessary assistance to make your site appear on the first page of the search engines.
The ideal web site host should offer the following services:
1. Fast, reliable hosting
2. Reasonable cost for services provided
3. No initial set up fee
4. Domain registration included in hosting charge
5. Unlimited data transfer
6. Email customer support
7. Telephone customer support
8. Point and click page building
9. Unlimited web pages
10. Tools for brainstorming key words for your site theme
11. Tools for evaluating the supply and demand for your keywords
12. Assistance in building your web pages to make them search engine friendly
13. Uploading your own web pages if desired
14. Automatic submission of each new page or each updated page to the search engines
15. Page templates for your site
16. Customized 404 error pages
17. Direction on creating Google and Yahoo site maps.
18. Inclusion of a blog site
19. Unlimited email accounts
20. Email forwarding
21. Email domain forwarding
22. Support forum of other users
23. Point and click custom input form creation tool
24. Unlimited autoresponders
25. Ability to upload XML code for RSS pages
26. Link exchange and link builder
27. eZine publishing tool
28. Email marketing list builder/distribution
29. Reports
a. Search engine ranking report
b. Traffic statistics and analysis
c. Click tracking and analysis
d. Keyword search report for search engines
e. Tracking of search engine spiders
30. Any other additional services
If you find a web host that provides all these services, you should hire it immediately.
For more information about choosing web site hosts, read the Boomer eZine at http://www.boomer-ezine.com/about_iwh.htm.
To succeed on the Internet, you need all the help you can get. Make certain that your web site host can give you that help and that all the services are included in the base price.
Copyright 2006 John Howe, Inc.
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